As we step into the unknown,
we discover we can be fragile
and strong, and terrified and brave,
all at the same time.
Paul S Boynton
A germination of our heart’s desire is taking place in the dark time leading up to 10:41 pm EDT on August 18 when the Leo New Moon ignites a newfound courage within us to boldly share our light, our joy, and our passion to the world in a way that revitalizes and up-lifts.
Taking Flight
Our minds can easily concoct stories to minimize the impulse of what we want to do. We may say to ourselves, ‘what I wish to do doesn’t matter in the scheme of things’ or ‘so many others are doing what I want to do and maybe doing it better than I ever could.’ Whatever story we are telling ourselves does not hold water in the face of experiencing the small bird (in the image above) who is about to take her first flight. This wee one’s big heart, determination, and bravery to go beyond what she already knows is inspiring. A cry rises up in me and I want to shout, 'Go. Go. Go. You can do it!'
Since the beginning of time birds fly in and out of our lives. They are all around. Their flying is instinctual, effortless, something they were born to do, and is something that defines them as birds. And yet, there is a moment when each bird must lift its wings and figure out how to use them. It is a moment where a bird must take the leap to do what it was born to do. As humans, are we any different?
Human beings worldwide experience birth and death daily. Everyone goes through times of hurt and of accomplishment, of being loved and of being rejected, feeling loss and feeling the hope for a better tomorrow. And yet, when that moment comes when we encounter that first flush of love, when we start a new job, move to a new location, or have someone close to us die, we enter the unknown and what we experience is unique and profoundly individual.
This is Leo: the beautiful, potent, transformative experience of being an individual living the human experience and feeling how our expression, dream, moment is unique and vital. Leo says, ‘yes I understand everyone has gone through it. But this is what I am going through and this is what I am about and right now this is everything.' Having an enlightened or spiritual understanding is not enough; we need to embody and live it. This is the joy and gift of being human.
The fire of the New Moon is a fuel that ignites us to boldly express what lives in our heart - to honor what we desire, to take the running leap into unknown territory, and to fly for the first time with some action, conversation, or dream that has us realize we are doing what we were born to do.
Heart of the Lion and Serpent. The Human and Cosmic Heart
Like a small boat on the ocean
Sending big waves into motion
Like how a single word can make a heart open
I might only have one match,
but I can make an explosion
Rachel Platten, "Fight Song"
The New Moon is aligned with Regulus and Alphard two brilliant fixed stars located in the constellations of Leo, the Lion and Hydra, the Serpent. What is notable is that they both speak to the cosmic heart that beats within each of us. Regulus is the Heart of the Lion and Alphard, the Heart of the Serpent.
Regulus, the Heart of the Lion, bestows courage and nobility. He is the star of kingship and can crown and remove leaders. With this star featured at the New Moon, we are invited to be lion-hearted, to take heart and with courage, assume the mantle, assume the leadership of our own lives. Acting with integrity, honor and with dignity evoke the blessings of this star. To act otherwise is to invite a disgrace, a dethroning, where lessons are to be learned about leadership, authority and responsibility.
Alphard, the Heart of the Serpent, is untamed, raw primal feminine energy. Where Leo is king of the world and responsible for its care, Alphard is queen of the primordial potential that is breaking through all that has already been created.
Alphard is the heart of the kundalini serpent. She cannot be civilized and does not respond to reason. She will have her way and does not yield to morality, societal rules or expectations. She seeks to eliminate the restrictions that inhibit her expression.
Alphard's presences stirs great passion and emotion within the heart of humanity. Activated prematurely or without the guiding light of awareness, she is volatile and ruthless. She evokes the power of our shadow nature and can catalyze us to act in a compulsive, narcissistic way.
Snake’s venom can poison and it can initiate. It can be destructive or transformative. By not repressing, denying or quieting the heart of the kundalini life force within us and guiding it with intention, it can break down the illusions or walls that bind us. It fuels the explorer, the activist, the pioneer in each of us for better or worse. An open heart is the key to unlocking its life-giving, generative power.
Regulus and Alphard both speak of the power of the heart to illuminate the way forward with the passion, determination, knowing, longing and courage that are attributes of the open heart. That both these stars are activated at this New Moon indicates that the journey ahead is not for the faint of heart and that the Way of the Heart is the one way to move forward that assures a beneficial outcome.
Around us we can readily identify those people or groups who amplify the shadow side of the Lion’s and Serpent’s Heart. Kingship can unwittingly be wielded as the right to lord something over another and Primordial Creative Fire can drive people to wanton acts of destruction.
Humanity is being challenged to know itself, to know the treasure and the potential that resides in the human heart. It is a monumental undertaking for each human to tend to their heart. Blaming others or devising ways for others to have a change of heart can easily become a diversion from the essential work of enlivening our heart so that our joy, our love takes flight.
To be a star, you must shine
your own light, follow your path,
and don't worry about the darkness,
for that is when the stars shine brightest.
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speaking from the Heart
Mercury has wandered into the central light of the New Moon. This planet's gifts of thought and communication are assimilated into the New Moon vibration. We can articulate feelings that previously were difficult to define. Giving voice to what is in our heart, our words have the power to ignite the heart of others. For many of us, we may need to express anger, grief or undigested trauma. Rather than simply venting, we can see this as an opportunity to cleanse and heal our heart so it amplifies the joy that inherently lives secreted away in our heart.
Become Lit Up!
The New Moon features five planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars and Chiron) and the South Node in fire signs. There is a beautiful fire grand trine that includes the Sun/Moon, Mars and the South Node in a dynamic relationship that can be characterized as a blending of inspired new beginnings, the call to take action, and the wisdom of what we have gleaned from past experience.
We are being literally fired up and empowered to act, to express, to love and to create.
And... there is a catch! A clear path has not been laid for us. We are likely to experience a headwind rather than wind beneath our wings (unless transits to our natal planets say otherwise). We can anticipate delays to our plans, a push back from the world, and periods of frustration where our efforts are thwarted. Still, we ae to take action with the courage to face whatever we need to face and remain steadfast to our dream
Sometimes the smallest
step in the right direction ends up being the biggest
step of your life. Tiptoe if you must,
but take a step.”
Naeem Callaway
Amplification of the Explorer, Pioneer, or Warrior Urge
Mars is traveling in the sign of Aries for more than 6 months (from the end of June until beginning of January). Mars, planet of action, in Aries stirs alive the explorer, pioneer and warrior spirit within us. The difficulty is that Mars is beginning to slow down and will come to a halt in early September before turning retrograde on September 9 and remain retrograde for two months.
We are currently feeling a readiness to move forward in a decisive and bold way. And yet, in autumn our efforts may slow down and, like Mars, stall out in some significant way. The result is deep frustration. We will each grapple with feeling fired up with no easy release or pathway to express that fire. The way through is to slow down, keep our eye on the dream, practice perseverance, be steadfast and the way will emerge in perhaps a better way than previously imagined.
These last days leading up to the New Moon, Mars has been in its 'shadow phase', meaning Mars is traveling across the territory it will revisit while Retrograde. During this last week, it has been in a stressful relationship to Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. Issues or concerns that arose at this time may give us clues as to what will preoccupy us this Fall when Mars is Retrograde.
We will be tested in the coming months. This testing provides a necessary friction. The heating up of Mars, the fire and the frustration will call forth a newfound strength within that does not quake or collapse in the face of adversity. We can think of our heart as a pearl and our body as the shell of an oyster. Initially, the pearl is but a speck of sand. It has potential, like a caterpillar has potential to be a butterfly. Yet it is only through constant friction and irritation over a period of time while lodged in the oyster shell, does the pearl take shape.
This year, the ground beneath is shifting (Uranus in Taurus) and we are living through the deconstruction of shared agreements that comprise society (Saturn, Jupiter and Capricorn in Pluto), we look for answers, for direction, for the way through.
At this juncture within the journey of 2020, we are to identify where we are fired up, where we ready to take a bold step, and where we will remain steadfast in the face of challenge. Clues to the area of life most likely being stirred to action can be found in the house where Aries resides in our individual natal charts. (For instance, if Aries is in the 10th house it will be within the career versus the 4th house which will have efforts focused on home and family.)
The New Moon reminds us that what we are looking for is found through clarifying, nurturing, and amplifying the pearl being shaped within our human heart that beats in rhythm with all creation.
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